1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of solid waste disposal and in particular to a method and apparatus for solid waste disposal for providing uniform size and composition fill material for use in a land fill.
2. Background Art
Large volumes of soild waste materials are generated each day. Man has been confronted with this problem since the beginning. In today's society, which is sometimes called "our disposable society", we are responsible for disposing more waste per capita per year than at any previous time in history.
The current methods of dealing with refuse are landfills, recycling and reclamation. Our ability to reclaim and recycle waste products is responsible for a small percentage of total refuse produced, the majority of which is thrown away, picked up by garbage trucks, then taken to a landfill where it is buried permanently with an earth cover. In some countries, the "garbage" is burned in incinerators.
At present, these methods are problematic, as they are sources of major pollution to our environment, negatively affecting the health of human beings and other species on this planet. By the adaptation of this invention, both the landfill method and the incineration method will result in fewer pollutants entering man's environment.
Waste disposal in present day landfills is a combination of refuse from garbage trucks, containers from construction projects, backyard do-it-yourself projects, gardening waste, earth disposal and broken asphalt, concrete, lumber, etc., from the demolition or the remodeling of buildings. The other ingredient being water and earth in combination to cover the waste products brought to the landfill and to compact it.
Present landfills have significant disadvantages because of the bulk size and the variety of materials that they are burying. One problem with prior art landfills is an uneven settlement of the surface of the fill. Such uneven settlement results in the landfill being unsuitable for certain types of uses such as structures bearing heavy loads on the fill. The uneven settlement is due from large objects, such as large solid waste products, deteriorating and decaying, leaving buried voids which in time collapse and cause uneven settlement and throughout the volume of the fill resulting in "cave-ins" at the finished surface of the landfill. Such prior art landfills are unable to support loads other than loads imposed by land uses such as parks and golf courses which can accommodate uneven differential settlement of the earth underneath. This condition is a limiting factor in the future use of these surface areas created by landfills.
Another problem with prior art landfills is ground water pollution from leachaids seeping through the volume of the landfill down into the water table. This seepage is a result of a prior art economic inability to remove liquids from all refuse brought to the site. As a result, ground water tables are becoming polluted thereby reducing the potable supply of water for consumption. This is an adverse environmental impact which, in the past, has stopped the location of landfills in sensitive areas, close to the center of population, where they are economically best located. This adverse impact continues from the present day to the future for generations to come. It can only be mitigated by removing moisture from the refuse before it is buried.
Additionally, prior art landfills suffer from the creation of methane gas. The decomposition of organic materials in bulk causes the creation of methane gas pockets which are nonuniform in size and location. Pockets of methane gas, when trapped in voids caused by deterioration, are forced to the surface when these voids collapse, causing unacceptable odors and dangers of explosion from contact with sparks produced by people or equipment using the surface of the landfill. The presence of such a danger is a further limiting factor in the use of landfill surface areas.
Another inhibiting factor in prior art landfills is the infestation of rodents who seek out garbage and live in voids caused by its decomposition and deterioration. These rodents come to the surface and their population increases in colonies tributary to landfills. When these colonies reach a certain size, they can no longer be sustained on the food by-products of the landfill. They then spread out into adjacent neighborhoods seeking food in inhabited areas and become a serous health hazard to human inhabitants.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for waste disposal whereby all refuse is ground down to small uniform particles that can be evenly mixed with earth limiting bulk and resulting in a more even distribution of particles of refuse which will allow for an even settlement of landfill surface areas through a uniform compaction and dispersal allowing for a uniform compacted surface condition.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus of waste disposal which significantly reduces and prevents moisture from seeping through the landfill to the water table.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for waste disposal which limits the formation of methane gas.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for waste disposal which limits rodent populations from infesting landfills.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for waste disposal which permits the separation of smaller particles of uniform size into organic, inorganic, and other substances for recycling and reclamation purposes when it becomes economically desirable to do so. At that time, the incineration of refuse may be less onerous as the pollution emitting from burning may be controlled to a greater extent.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an efficient method of solid waste disposal which can accommodate high volume output.